Thursday, August 11, 2011

Clearing The Way For A Carriage House

Besides installing new windows on the 3rd floor, we haven't done much with our home renovation over the last few months.  We've mostly been saving our money for a carriage house.  And, building a structure like that is EXPENSIVE.  But we're determined to get one up within the next year or so.  Recently, we had a survey done on the property and from there, we'll be able to draw up the plans and apply for building permits. 

When we bought this house a year and a half ago, the landscape was completely overgrown.  We've battled it here and there, but there's still a large part of our backyard that's overrun with vines and mangled trees.  And that's the spot where we want to build the carriage house.  So, little by little, with our own two hands, we've been breaking it up.  Dave and I have rented industrial wood chippers, we've cut through vines, and cleared nasty brush.  We had a brief run in with poison ivy (well, Dave did, not me) and overall, we've made a dent in the landscape.  When we got to the point where we needed help, we called a local tree service. 

Today was the day that the tree service arrived.  Four guys worked in the yard, grinding out stumps and bringing down a few trees.  This is what I watched from my office window:




Is there anything better than watching other people do the work?  It's amazing what four grown men can do in a few hours.  I wish I had buckets of money.  Buckets and buckets of money.  I could do this all day.


So, more about the carriage house.  Similar to my inspiration images, we're shooting for a 2-story structure with enough room for two cars.  I would also like dormer windows.  And, we'll need to pave a decent driveway.  To give you an idea, I played around in Photoshop and came up with this:


 


Also, my perfectionist husband just reminded me that the "Photoshopped garage" should be over the to left about 8 more feet, but you get the idea.


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9 comments:

  1. Super cool! And I laughed about buckets of money. Couldn't agree with you more. I love the way you get stuff done (or should I say the way Dave gets it done --lol). xoxo

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  2. Wowie! Looks like it's going to be amazing. Good luck with it all, I know how daunting it is!

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  3. i feel you about buckets & buckets of money. i'd probably own all the best vintage furniture in this country and have an upholsterer live in-house like a maid, lol.

    exciting to see the progress on your abode!

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  4. Great job creating it--wouldn't it be cool if it were that easy?! Just photoshop it in, hehe...we will be turning our garage into a cuter version like that soon.

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  5. Since you live in the Philly suburbs (like me) I thought I would throw in some recommendations. We had our garage built about 5 years ago by an Amish company called Maple Grove Construction. They don't appear to be in business any more (although I would highly recommend them). Here is a you tube of their buidings:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpK7R8J0rZQ

    We had a local concrete contractor dig and pour the footings and slab. Then these guys came in and built our lovely board and batten garage in 4 days (they had prefabricated the oak structure in their shop). It was a pretty amazing site. They were also great about customizing one of their standard designs to our height requirements and putting in windows and doors where we wanted. I found this company that looks somewhat similar.

    http://www.horizonstructures.com/

    I would recommend searching under Amish horse barns. Most of these companies will gladly come out to the Philly area. I also thought their prices were pretty reasonable.

    I just realized that I don't have very many photos of our garage on my blog but here is a close up:

    http://www.statelykitsch.com/it-is-a-beautiful-day/

    Please feel free to contact me if you are you have any questions.

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  6. We had a carriage house at our last home. I just LOVED it. It has a large space upstairs that we had always intended to finish but never got around to it before selling. It would have made the perfect apartment or rec room and it was all ready for a bathroom as well. In fact I'm staring at it as I write because we moved exactly next door!!

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  7. Do you plan on finishing the 2nd level to use as living space?

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  8. Do you plan on finishing the 2nd floor to use as living space?

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